There are few plant specimens that excel as equally in the landscape as they do indoors. Lady Palm (Rhapis excelsa) is a rare exception. Whether you live in the tropical climate of Florida or in the snowy regions of Alaska, you’ll be pleasantly surprised at how easy this “lady” is to grow. Although Lady Palm won’t grow as a landscape perennial in cold climates, you can grow this plant indoors in any climate as a superbly adaptable potted plant.

A Distinctive Calling-Card Appearance
Lady Palm’s elegant “hands” – its palmate-shaped leaflets – have individual slender leaves that are finger-shaped. You’ll notice this plant from a distance because of its distinctive foliage, but that’s just icing on the cake. This long-lived plant also:

• Continues to multiply. Lady Palm has a delightful multiplying habit of growing from rhizomes, which are modified stems that grow just under the soil surface. It’s from these rhizomes that new leaf stalks will sprout from the base of the plant. As your plant matures, it will grow outward in a balanced, circular pattern that keeps Lady Palm’s shape naturally rounded. Each plant will grow even fuller as it ages, without becoming invasive.

• Tolerates shade. Lady Palm not only tolerates shade, but it actually prefers shady conditions. So if you have a challenging spot in your Zone 9-11 landscape that’s too shady for sun-loving plants, Lady Palm is a terrific understory plant that prospers beneath taller trees while filling in the bare pockets that often exist in shady locations.

Packed with Eye Appeal
Each leaf stalk on Lady Palm grows up to 18 inches long, but these are not ho-hum stems like you see on other plants. The slender stalks are beautifully textural, because they’re covered with dark-brown fiber! And held at the end of each stalk you’ll see those distinctive dark-green fan-shaped leaves that can’t help but be noticed. Each Lady Palm plant is perfectly proportionate, with a rounded shrubby form that’s as wide as it is tall. It’s an evergreen, so you’ll enjoy its lush foliage year-round. In the landscape, your Lady Palm may reach a height up to 15 feet, although it typically tops out around 10 feet. In a container, where Lady Palm’s growth is held in check, you can expect it to grow around 5 feet tall.

Indoor Therapy
Even if you live in an arctic or temperate climate, you’ll feel like you’re on a tropical vacation if you grow Lady Palm! If you suffer from the winter doldrums, this plant will enliven your interior living spaces during cold weather with its showy appearance. Numerous university research studies affirm the therapeutic ability of indoor plants to lift the spirits and boost memory retention. And when you grow Lady Palm, which displays its leaves in a perpetual open-handed wave, it almost looks as if it’s bidding you a cheery greeting you when you walk by!

Outdoor Flair
If you live in Lady Palm’s perennial range, you can place this head-turning plant in a number of locations that maximize its design potential. You can plant Lady Palm as a filler plant around taller palms to fill in the gaps around the bare trunks of the larger trees. When you plant a cluster of three Lady Palms, you’ve created an instant backdrop for smaller foliage or flowering plants growing in front of it. Lady Palm provides a textural contrast that softens hardscapes, such as patios or decks. You don’t have to worry about planting Lady Palm near these and other hardscapes, including your walkways and driveway, because its root system is not damaging to them. If your property line lacks a fence, plant a row of Lady Palms to define your yard’s boundaries naturally. And if you want to really make an impact statement in your courtyard garden or at the entry to your home, Lady Palm excels in containers.

Perfectly At Home in Containers
Lady Palm is so easy to grow in containers that you’d think it was bred specifically as a potted plant instead of originally grown as a native plant in China! The University of Florida IFAS Extension rates Lady Palm as “one of the best palms for use under low light interiorscape conditions.” This is great news if the spot in your home or office where you’re considering placing a Lady Palm is not very brightly lit. It also doesn’t have a high demand for humidity like other potted palms and tropical houseplants have, which makes it resilient in average indoor environments without needing constant misting.

Improves the Quality of Your Indoor Air
The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has published numerous studies, which reveal the astonishing results that indoor air (inside your home or office) is likely more polluted than the air outside! And studies by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), which are corroborated by other research scientists, reveal some results that are just as astonishing – certain plants that are grown indoors have a natural ability to remove the pollutants from the air without the plant suffering adverse effects. Lady Palm is on the list of these natural air cleaners; in fact, it scored the highest of 30 plants in one research study for its ability to remove alcohol from the atmosphere. It’s also capable of removing carbon monoxide and formaldehyde, two toxins you don’t want to inhale, which commonly lurk in the closed environments of homes and offices. Beyond its beauty as a striking houseplant, growing Lady Palm indoors is actually good for your health!

Container Growing Tips
Whether you grow a potted Lady Palm indoors or outside, it will benefit from some of the same growing tips:

• Keep the pot out of direct sun, which can burn the leaves. If you grow Lady Palm in a sunroom, remember that the glass windows will intensify the sun’s rays. Think “bright light” instead of “direct sun” in this type of environment.

• Slightly moist potting mix that drains well is another key for optimal health. In the landscape, Lady Palm is drought-tolerant once it becomes established, but because containers dry out more quickly, you’ll need to water it more often if you’re growing it in a pot.

• All containers need a drainage hole at the bottom so the excess water drains freely.

• Clemson University Extension recommends a rich potting mix, such as one that is formulated for African violets, as an ideal choice for Lady Palm.

• In containers, Lady Palm’s leaves may turn light-green to yellowish because of a nitrogen deficiency. Use a water-soluble or slow-release houseplant fertilizer that’s formulated for foliage plants, and apply it at half the recommended rate.

Landscape Growing Tips
Although Lady Palm is an adaptable plant, it will grow its best when you provide an environment that maximizes its health.
Choose a planting site that offers:

• Good drainage. Lady Palm is adaptable to most types of soils, as long as the soil is well-draining.

• Fertilizer. You won’t have to fertilize a Lady Palm plant in the landscape very often, because of its fairly low fertilization requirement. A slow-release fertilizer, applied at half the recommended rate, supplies nutrients gradually without overwhelming plants with too much at a time. Fertilize your plant during its active growing season – when you see new growth emerging and new leaves opening.

Many Plants From One
As a Lady Palm plant grows, it becomes thicker at its base and expands outward. This growth resembles the tidy habit of clumping bamboo; in fact, even the stems of Lady Palm are cane-like, similar to some types of bamboo. If you plant your Lady Palm in a pot, choose a pot that is two to three times wider than your plant’s base. This way, you’ll give it room to grow outward. When it reaches the edges of the pot, it’s time to choose a bigger container. If you’d like to keep it growing in its original pot, you can remove it temporarily and divide it. A long serrated knife, such as a bread knife, makes easy work out of dividing the rhizomes. You can actually cut the rounded clump as you would cut a pie – in half or in fourths – to create two or four plants from your original plant!

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